Austin grad Connor Sheehan is headed to a familiar place to try and do something he’s always dreamed of doing.

Sheehan is walking on to play football and compete on the track and field team at Division II Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D.

He couldn’t be happier with the location as he has plenty of family in Aberdeen. Sheehan also made a visit to Division II University of Minnesota-Duluth, but he made his final decision where he would go to school on a family trip to Aberdeen back in June.

“It’s kind of like my second home and I have family a block away from where I’m staying,” Sheehan said. “It’s pretty nice to have family close. When we made the trip [to visit], it kind of seemed like a fantasy. I’ve been wanting to do this since I was a little kid and lately it’s starting to seem a lot more real.”

Sheehan had 73 tackles and two forced fumbles as he played corner back for the Packers last Fall. At NSU, he’s likely to play in the defensive backfield. Sheehan plans on red-shirting this Fall, but he may be just an injury away from being on the active roster this season for the Wolves, who play in the Northern Sun Conference and went 8-3 overall last season.

Sheehan said he’s ready to work hard and he’ll play wherever the team puts him. He’s hoping he can contribute enough to earn an athletic scholarship.

“If I can help any other way on offense or special teams, I’ll be more than happy to do that,” he said. “Whatever I can do to get on the football field, I’ll do.”

There haven’t been a lot of AHS grads who have gone on and played college football and Sheehan is going to try and prove that he can do it so others will try it as well.

“I’m pretty excited to show that there is a possibility of an Austin Packer playing in the NCAA,” Sheehan said. “I’m excited to represent Austin as a community and show that they have athletes too.”

Sheehan took fourth in the Section 1AA 400-meter dash last Spring with a time of 52.76 seconds.